Determined
by TwistedRocketPower
Summary: Sequel to Accused. Tim is pushed back into the NCIS world when members of the team begin to go missing. What he doesn't know is that he's the one the kidnapper wants. He is forced to confront his past and present demons while trying to help save the team.
1. The Plan

He dropped his keys and cellphone on the counter and slammed his door shut, just like he did every night when he got home from work. He went right to the fridge and pulled out two beers, then sat down on his couch and began to drink from one. He didn't even like the taste of beer, but he was out of whiskey, bourbon and vodka… and he didn't feel like going to get more tonight.

He finished the first beer in five swallows, then began on the second. When it was half gone he set it down on his coffee table and went into his room. He undressed, went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and got in.

Showers just weren't the same anymore. He didn't feel dirty, sweaty, or like he needed one at all. But he got them anyway.

After his shower he changed into a plain white t-shirt and dark green boxers. He went back out into the living room, sat down on the couch, picked the remote up off of the coffee table and turned on his TV. He flipped the channels until he hit TVLand where they were playing a Cagney and Lacey marathon. Something about seeing that made him smile… which was something he didn't do very much anymore.

He picked up his beer and finished it off. He wanted more, but he didn't feel like getting up. Now, if he had vodka, then he'd get up. But not beer. It wasn't worth it.

He yawned and looked at his watch. It was a little past nine. He knew he should go to bed, but he didn't want to get up. His couch was comfortable enough so he'd just fall asleep there eventually.

He watched TV for a while, then he started to drift off. Just as he was about asleep, his cellphone rang. He remembered dropping it on the counter along with the keys as he came in, so he slowly got up and walked over to it.

He picked it up, looked at the caller ID, then pressed ignore. He let out a deep breath then decided, since he was already up, to get another beer.

As he walked back to his couch with his beer in hand, his phone began to ring again.

He groaned, set his beer down, and walked back to his phone.

He shook his head as he looked at the caller ID. He pressed the 'ignore' button again, then decided to just turn his phone off.

He, once again, went to his couch and laid down… this time, he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"Who is this?" A mid-thirties, blond haired woman with a British accent asked as she stared at a photo of a young man.<p>

"That's Timothy McGee, Debby. He was put on trial for the rape and murder of a nineteen year old girl, Al-"

"Alli Fisher. Yes, I remember. Why him?"

"He was proven innocent… another man, Jeremy, admitted to doing it."

"Again I ask, why him? You think Tomithy _did_ do it? That he framed this other man?"

He shook his head. "No, he didn't do it. Jeremy framed McGee. The man behind bars _is_ the rapist and murderer of that young girl."

"Mr. _Smith_, I don't know why you're here, and I don't think you do either, so-"

"I know exactly why I'm here."

"Then spit it out. I came in very late for this meeting. My time is precious… and very expensive."

"I've got one million dollars in my car. It's yours… if you kill Timothy McGee."

Debby's eyes widened. "You idiot! You left one million dollars in your car? What are you thinking?"

"No one knows it's there, plus the car is a crappy piece of junk. No one would want to take that thing… Thieves would rather steal a bike than that car."

"That doesn't matter. If you are important enough to have one million dollars, then you are important enough to be followed. Go get it. Now!"

"Alright, alright!"

Mr. Smith went out to his car, then returned to the office a couple of minutes later with a briefcase.

"Now, back on the subject. Why on earth would I kill this McGee man. He did nothing wrong."

"Listen, all I know is that a million dollars was delivered to me after talking to Jeremy the other day. He called again and said that there's more where that came from. The next day, _four_ million dollars had been put into my bank account… I can't kill a man, I told him that. He told me to come to you."

"How did he know about me?"

"I don't know, probably from some other guys in prison."

Debby leaned forward, resting her arms on her desk. "One million dollars?"

"It's all yours, if you kill McGee."

She thought for a moment. "I've never killed a completely innocent man before. I'm not sure."

"Well, when you think about it," Mr. Smith replied, "None of us are _completely_ innocent."

Debby looked at him, and her lips slowly curled up into a smile. "You are right about that, Mr. Smith… Okay, I will accept this offer, under two conditions."

"What?"

"I get paid one million now, and one million once the job is done."

"O- Okay, I can do that."

"And, we keep this local. I just got back from a long, _eventful_ trip and I don't intend to fly for a while."

"Timothy McGee no longer lives in Washington DC."

"Then we get him here."

Mr. Smith wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How?"

"You tell me."

"W- Well, he does have some former co-workers here. I heard they were all pretty close."

Debby smiled. "There we go. You get me the names of the people he worked with, and I'll take it from there. Understand?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Now, you don't get off easy with this. Just because I'm doing the killing doesn't mean that you don't have to do any work."

"Wh- What do I do?"

"You will do whatever I ask, whenever I ask it. And you won't question it. If you do question it, I kill you… cause, as you say, none of us are completely innocent."

"Whatever y- you say, I'll- I'll do it," He replied. He knew it was wrong, but the chance of having three million dollars was too good to pass up.

Debby stood up and held out her hand for Mr. Smith to shake. "We have a deal."

* * *

><p>He woke up to a horrible, stale taste in his mouth. <em>'Should have remembered to brush my teeth,'<em> He thought as he got up.

He stretched his tired and achy muscles, then he made his way to his kitchen. He stopped before getting there, picked up his phone, and turned it on.

He sighed when he saw four new voicemails on there. He punched in his password then turned the phone on speaker so he wouldn't have to carry it around.

_"It's me, Timmy. I just wanted to see how you're doing. Call me back when you can."_

_"It's me again. I don't know why you're not answering your phone… Well, I don't know why you would either. You haven't answered me in the last five months, why would you start now? Just… please call me."_

_"Timmy, it's Abby, for the third time. I don't know why I keep calling you. No, I haven't been drinking… nothing besides Caf-Pow anyway. I had five of those today. It was a long day at work. I just… I miss you, Tim. Please, please, please call me. Bye, Timmy."_

_"This is Jonathan McDonald calling from You Win Big. You have won twelve million dollars!… Just kidding, McGoo. It's Tony. I just got a call from Abby. You know how she gets after she calls you and you don't answer. She made me promise I'd call you, and you know she's gonna check my phone tomorrow to make sure I did, so…"_ There was a sigh, _"Could you just call her, Tim? Or text her? Anything! She really misses you… We all do… but you didn't hear that from me. Later, McVoicemail. That's a new one I just came up with… I probably _won't_ hear from you later. Whatever. Bye."_

Tim let out a deep breath as he pulled another beer out of his fridge. He opened it and took one sip, then cringed at the taste. "Definitely getting vodka today."

* * *

><p><strong>Someone really needs to give me a namenumber for a Writers Anonymous club thing. I've seriously got problems. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of the sequel to Accused. I got about 40 replies from the last chapter of Accused for me to write a sequel, so your wish is my command...**

**Updates will be more irregular than usual, just until I finish one of my other stories, then it should become more, well, regular.**

**Review and let me know what you think :) Thanks!**


	2. The Newer Guys

"Got any calls, my peeps?" Tony asked as he entered the bullpen.

"Why are you calling us marshmallow treats?" Ziva questioned.

Tony sighed. "It's easier to just not answer you."

"No, we have had no calls," Ben answered him.

Ben was Roy's replacement. Roy was Tim's replacement; he only lasted two weeks. His constant flirting with Abby creeped her out, so, when she told Gibbs about it, he threatened him. But, the reason he was fired was because he seemed to enjoy pranks a little too much. He contaminated two crime scenes while trying to prank both Tony and Ziva.

Ben had now been with the team for six months, and he seemed to be fitting in pretty well… for the most part.

"But you would know that," Ben continued, "If you would have been here for the past two hours. You know, when work actually started."

"Well, Benny and the Jets, why would I need to be at work when there have been no calls?"

Ben sighed. "Why do I even try?"

"I don't know, Benny, but you'll learn. It just takes time."

"I haven't been called Benny since I was seven," Ben mumbled.

"What was that, _Benny_?" Tony asked, putting extra emphasis on the "Benny".

Ben stood up. "I said I'm going down to Abby."

"Sure you did, Benny and Joon."

Ben took a deep breath as he walked towards the elevators, glad to be getting away from Tony for a while.

* * *

><p>Ben entered the lab to hear the music down low and Abby sitting on her stool, staring at her computer screen.<p>

"What are you doing, Abby?" He asked.

She sighed. "What does it look like?" She replied. She didn't sound rude, just sad.

"It looks like you're staring at something."

"Good observation, Ben."

Ben took a couple of steps closer to her. "Can I ask what it is you're staring at?"

She paused. "It's a picture of me and Timmy. It was taken a few years ago."

Ben nodded and walked up so he was beside her. He looked at the photo. "You two look happy."

"He surprised me and bought us concert tickets to my favorite band for my birthday. I know he hated every second of it, but he never acted like it."

"That's nice of him."

Abby took a deep breath. "He won't talk to me anymore."

"Hasn't that been for a few months now?"

Abby quickly turned her head towards Ben and glared at him. "That doesn't make it any easier, Ben."

"No, I'm- I'm not saying that it does."

"Was there a reason you came down here, _Ben_?"

"I just wanted to come and see you."

"Well, now you've seen me."

Ben let out a deep breath. He turned and began to head out of the room. "Later, Abby."

"Uh-huh."

Ben had been trying to talk to Abby regularly. He wanted to get to know her better, mainly because she didn't seem to want to get to know him. The subject of Tim always ended badly with them, even if she started the conversation.

She got mini-depressed the day after she would try calling him. Ben called it a mini-depression because it would last for a couple of hours then she, or one of the other team members, would force her out of it and she'd go back to her normal self.

* * *

><p>"What was wrong with it?" Toby, Tim's co-worker asked as he stood beside his computer.<p>

"Nothing," Tim replied with a sigh. "It just froze. All you had to do was restart it."

"Well, if I would have done it then you wouldn't have had anything to do."

"Actually, I would have. See there are three computers here that are _really_ broken, so I have _a lot_ of work to do."

"Listen, kid, don't pretend that your job is more important than mine. I go online and catch pedophiles while you go around connecting wires and crap."

"And how would you get online to catch those pedophiles if I didn't go around "connecting wires and crap"?"

Toby just glared at him. He was glaring so hard that Tim could feel him boring a hole through his skull, just with his eyes.

"Get out of my way," Toby finally replied.

Tim fake-smiled at him, "My pleasure," He said sarcastically as he walked away.

Toby sighed as he sat down at his desk. "For all I know you're one of those pedophiles I talk to," He mumbled.

Tim, not that far away, heard him… but he pretended he didn't and continued on with his work.

* * *

><p>It was late. Ben was just getting home after a long day filled with looking over cold cases. He unlocked his front door and stepped inside. He closed and locked the door behind him, then headed for the kitchen. He felt around for the light switch. The place was still fairly new- well, to him anyway- so he was still getting used to where everything was.<p>

Before he even had time to flip the switch, Debby came up behind him. She quickly jabbed a needle into his neck and injected a drug into him. He whipped around, but he barely got out a half of a punch before he began to fall to the ground.

As he slowly lost consciousness, Debby's phone began to ring.

She answered quickly. "Who is it?"

_"It's Jeremy."_

"You were supposed to call half an hour ago. I told that incredibly stupid man you hired to make sure you called me before I began."

_"I'm in prison, I don't exactly get to demand things around here."_

"Are you being recorded?"

_"No. I got a friend in here, he's making sure none of that goes on."_

"Is he trustworthy?"

_"Yes, he is. I want to know the plan."_

"I have just injected Benjamin Kennedy, Timothy's replacement, with a drug that will keep him out of it for quite a while. I will take him and, in the morning, the team will realize he is missing."

_"How's that supposed to get McGee here?"_

"I too have friends, Jeremy. _My_ friend is currently at NCIS, placing an encryption code onto Benjamin's computer. I did some reading on Tim throughout the night. It seems he is very good at decrypting things."

_"Lots of people at NCIS are!"_

"Yes, but none as good as Tim. Believe me when I say this encryption is not simple. The level of skill you need to be able to decrypt it is something only Timothy possesses. Well, others do as well, but not at NCIS."

_"What if they just get a local from some other agency to come in and do it?"_

"They won't do that. I also did some reading up on Gibbs. He doesn't like to just bring in anyone. They won't want to risk the time of getting someone who _may_ be able to do the job. They will know that Tim can do it, therefore they will call him."

_"But, what i-"_

"Listen to me, Jeremy. You have paid me to do a job. It is a job that I have done for many years and know how to do very well. If you want me off the job, then fine. I will keep your money and the man you despise will still be alive. Otherwise, let me do what you've paid me to do."

There was a pause. _"Don't screw this up."_

"I don't intend to. I can assure you, by the time this is over, Timothy McGee will be dead."

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! I'm so happy with the reviews I received :D Thank you guys so much!<strong>

**Just a little side thing. I got this review by a guest who calls herself Brenda: "Too bad he had to come back. He doesn't deserve to come back after his meanness and smugness Mr. Better than everybody because he went to MIT and John Hopkins. He throws that in everybody's faces. He would of been better off gone and never been heard of again. Too bad you didn't kill him off it would of been much better for him to die."**

**This review makes me laugh. Why? Because you, Brenda, clicked on a Tim-centered story, fully knowing that Tim would be alive, yet all you can put is that it's a shame he isn't dead. I also don't understand what the heck it has to do with my story as, in neither Accused or the first chapter of Determined, Tim never bragged about where he went to school. Brenda, I'm sorry, but I think you're confusing me with whoever wrote season-six-Tim on the actual TV show NCIS. But I thank you, Brenda, for making me laugh for the absolutely pointless review that I happily deleted afterwards.**


	3. Temporarily Reassigned

Gibbs stepped out of the elevator and walked to the bullpen, a cup of coffee in hand.

"Morning, Boss," Tony said with a smile wide on his face.

"What did you do?" Gibbs asked, taking note of the smile.

Tony looked offended. "Who? Me? What makes you think I did anything?"

"He spilled coffee on your desk chair this morning so he switched yours and Ben's," Ziva answered.

Gibbs backtracked to Tony's desk. He just stared at him for a moment.

"Boss, I can explain. I was-"

"How did you get coffee on my chair when my chair is _behind_ my desk?"

"Well, Boss, I mean- I just-"

"He tripped as he was passing by your desk, spilling the coffee on your desk. The coffee then dripped off of your desk and onto your chair… Although it was less of a drip and more of a pour."

Tony looked around Gibbs and glared at Ziva. "Thanks, Zee, but I'll take it from here."

Ziva nodded once in response.

"Boss, I didn't mean to spill it. It was the ground's fault. I think something is wrong with it. I'll have maintenance come look at it later."

"You do that, DiNozzo. And after you talk to them," Gibbs began walking back to his desk, "switch chairs with Ben."

Tony cringed. "Yes, Boss."

"Where _is_ Ben?" Gibbs asked once he sat down.

"He has not arrived," Ziva replied, "nor has he called."

"Has that kid ever been late?" Tony asked. "I'm pretty sure he's always here about half an hour before anyone else."

"How would you know that?" Ziva questioned.

"Because, two months ago he told me that he likes to get here a _half an hour_ before anyone else."

Gibbs stood back up. "Ziva, start callin' him. Tony, check his computer to see if he had an appointment somewhere. I'll be with Abby."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Tony and Ziva entered the lab.<p>

"He is not answering," Ziva said.

"And I can't do anything on his computer. All these numbers and letters that reminds me of Probie started rolling on the screen."

"Aw, Timmy," Abby said with a pouted lip at the sound of his nickname.

"What are you talking about, Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know. It looks like someone bugged his computer or something."

Gibbs, who was already having bad feeling before, was feeling even worse now. "Ziva, grab your gear. You and I are going to Ben's place. Tony, get someone from Cybercrimes to get on his computer and check it out. Abby, you go too. Call me when you get anything, DiNozzo."

"Will do, Boss."

* * *

><p>Tony got Sam Nelson, the head of the Cybercrimes unit, to come look at Ben's computer.<p>

He and Abby sat behind the desk and worked for half an hour. They knew immediately that someone had put an encryption code onto Ben's computer, but they had to see how difficult it might be to decrypt it.

"Tony."

"Yeah, Sam?"

"You're gonna need to get Gibbs back here."

"Why?"

"I need to talk to him about this, and it's easier to do it in person rather than over the phone."

Tony nodded. "Alright. I'll call him."

* * *

><p>"This place is immanent."<p>

"_Immaculate_," Gibbs corrected as he looked around the kitchen.

"Yes, that too… I wonder if he always keeps his place so clean. I mean, his desk is always clean, but that does not necessarily mean his house would be clean."

"He just moved in a couple of weeks ago, Ziva. Hasn't had much time to mess it up."

"Have you met Tony? He could have this place a dump within hours."

"It's too clean," Gibbs said as his phone began to ring. "Yeah," He answered.

_"Boss, Sam wants you to get back here as soon as you can. He says he needs to explain what's on the computer to you, and it would be easier to do it in person."_

"I'll be there soon."

_"Did you find anything at Ben's place?"_

"No, nothing. That's what bothers me. We're about to leave."

_"See ya soon, Boss."_

* * *

><p>Gibbs and Ziva exited the elevator and walked to the bullpen.<p>

"What is it, Sam?" Gibbs asked immediately.

Sam and Abby both stood up from their seats behind Ben's desk. "This computer, Agent Gibbs… I don't know who put this code on there, or how they did it, but I've never worked with something this complex before. I actually only know two people who have successfully decrypted a code like this… And only one person did it in an extremely short amount of time."

Gibbs waited for him to say who it was, and he became impatient when Sam _didn't_ say who the person was. "Well, who is it?"

Sam glanced at Abby, then he looked back at Gibbs. "_Former_ Special Agent McGee. When he was in Cybercrimes he decrypted a code similar to this within three weeks. That's the fastest I've ever seen with something this-"

"Complex," Gibbs finished, "Yeah, you said. Who's the other person?"

"A friend who works at the Pentagon now. I worked with him a few years ago. He decrypted something similar to this, but it took him a couple of months." Sam sighed, "You might not wanna hear it, Agent Gibbs, but if something _is_ wrong with Ben, and decrypting this code is what you need to do to find him, the fastest way to do that is with Tim."

Gibbs took a deep breath and looked up towards Vance's office. "I'll be back," he said as he began to leave the bullpen.

* * *

><p>Gibbs headed straight for Vance's door, passing right by his secretary. She didn't even pretend to act surprised. There was no point.<p>

He opened Vance's office door and went inside.

"Well, look at that, you didn't knock. Knuckles broken, Gibbs?"

"I need you to get McGee here."

Vance just stared at Gibbs for a moment. "Excuse me?"

"Someone's taken Ben and put some encrypting computer thing on his computer. Sam, from Cybercrimes, says Tim can decrypt it faster than anyone else he knows."

"What makes you think I can get him here? And why am I just finding out about Agent Kennedy?"

"He won't answer the rest of us when we call, but you weren't as close to him as we were. He might still talk to you. If not, he'll at least listen to the message you leave. And I was just now able to confirm that Ben is missing."

"Gibbs, your team listens to you more then they listen to me… but that doesn't leave this room. Why don't _you_ call McGee?"

"I just told you. He doesn't answer my calls and he doesn't listen to the messages I used to send. I've told him to call me back at least ten times before I stopped trying, I never heard a word from him. You haven't bugged him since he's been gone."

"How soon do you need him here?"

Gibbs walked back to the door. "Yesterday," He said before leaving.

Vance opened a drawer at his desk and looked through the files until he found Tim's name. No matter what the reason for an agent leaving, they always have to send in their new address and phone number. It's a safety precaution, just in case someone they put in prison years earlier, or the prisoners family members, decided to come after them.

Vance opened the file and found Tim's number. He then picked up his phone and dialed the number.

It rang… and rang… and rang. Then the machine picked up.

"You have reached the McGee residence," The automated message system said, "Please leave a message at the sound of the beep."

_Beep._

"McGee, this is Director Vance from NCIS. I heard you aren't answering your phone much these days, but we need you here on temporary assignment. I can't take no for an answer. You don't have to call me back, but if you're not on a flight to DC in the next four hours _I_ will call the local authorities and have them come to your house, or place of work, and have them pick you up and escort you here. Your call. See you soon, temporarily reassigned Agent McGee."

* * *

><p><strong>I'm glad you guys seem to like Ben. I wanted to make him a likable guy. I know I didn't write about him a whole lot, but he will be in the story more, I promise. I also got some reviews saying that you liked the lady killer :) lol I wanted her to have a big sarcastic side. I usually have my killers just be creepy, but I wanted this to be different.<strong>

**Anyway, thanks so much for reading and reviewing! You guys are awesome!**


	4. This Tim

Tim was about to leave for work when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was NCIS Headquarters. He figured it was Abby calling from work, so he decided not to answer.

Letting the machine pick it up, he listened to the message.

_"McGee, this is Director Vance from NCIS. I heard you aren't answering your phone much these days, but we need you here on temporary assignment. I can't take no for an answer. You don't have to call me back, but if you're not on a flight to DC in the next four hours _I_ will call the local authorities and have them come to your house, or place of work, and have them pick you up and escort you here. Your call. See you soon, temporarily reassigned Agent McGee."_

From the moment the message began, until Vance hung up, Tim's heart went from normal speed to what felt like five hundred beats a second.

He walked over to his couch and sat down, feeling sick to his stomach. His mind was racing. The last thing he needed was police officers coming to get him at home or at work. His neighbors already hated having him around, and work was even worse. It seemed that no matter how much the media went back on the things they said about him, people still chose to believe the bad instead of the good.

_'What the heck would they need me for?'_ Tim thought. He wondered if it was just some elaborate plan to get him back there, seeing as he hadn't had contact with any of them in quite some time…_ 'But Vance wouldn't be a part of that. He wouldn't waste his time. Not even for Gibbs.'_

He guessed he could call and get more information, but he didn't want to talk to Vance… he didn't want to talk to any of them. He wouldn't even know what to say. He'd just stutter.

He sat there, his mind going so fast that no thought was ever finished. After a while he looked at his watch and realized he'd been sitting for over an hour.

There was no way out of this, besides going into hiding, which really didn't seem like a good idea. So, finding no other option open, Tim stood up on shaky legs and headed to his bedroom to pack.

* * *

><p>As the cab Tim took from the airport pulled into NCIS, Tim took out the mints he had bought after his flight. He had drank quite a bit of both rum and whiskey during his flight, and the last thing he wanted was for the team to smell it on his breath. It was fine for him to know he was a mess, but he didn't want the others to know it.<p>

Tim had stopped by the hotel he would be staying at and dropped off his things there first, so now all that was left was getting out of the cab and going into the building that he left a little over nine months ago.

Tim paid the driver and stepped out of the cab. As the cab drove off, Tim looked at the building. For some reason it looked so big. Bigger than he remembered. He felt as though it was suddenly going to grow legs and attack him… but maybe that was the whiskey talking, or the rum, he wasn't sure.

He took another deep breath then walked towards the building's entrance. He didn't remember opening the door, but somehow he got inside.

"Agent McGee?" Tom, the security guard, questioned.

Tim smiled a fake, but believable, smile. "Hey, Tom."

"What are you doin' here?"

"Temporarily reassigned. Not sure why yet."

"Well, go right on in. I'm sure your former team will be happy to see you."

Tim nodded. "Yeah. See ya later, Tom."

"You too, McGee."

Tim looked at the elevator. _'Too quick,'_ He thought. He decided to take the stairs instead.

With every step came a faster beating heart. He couldn't believe he was actually here. He barely remembered the plane ride, couldn't remember if he'd called in at work to tell them he wouldn't be showing up, didn't have any clue what he packed in his suitcase, and couldn't tell if the stale smell he kept smelling was him or the natural smell of the staircase… All he hoped is that he wasn't noticeably intoxicated.

Tim exited the staircase and, for a moment, just looked towards the bullpen. He could see the back of Ziva's head, and he could see Tony's face, but he wasn't able to see Gibbs at the moment- or whoever took his desk.

He wiped his hands on his blue jeans to get off the sweat and began walking towards the bullpen.

Tony, feeling someone looking at him, looked up. He dropped the pen that was in his hand and his mouth opened. He tried to form a word, but he couldn't seem to, so he just stood up.

"Tony, what are you looki-" Ziva stopped as she turned in her chair to see what Tony was staring at.

She stood up as well. "Tim!" She exclaimed. As he reached the bullpen, Ziva went around her desk and immediately wrapped Tim in a hug. "What are you doing here, McGee?"

Tim gave her a short hug, then they parted. "I actually have no idea. I thought you guys would know."

Tony came around his desk. "Probably for the encryption thing… Good to see you, Tim," He said, sticking out his hand for Tim to shake.

Tim returned the shake, then looked over to see Gibbs standing at his desk.

"Um, excuse me," Tim said to Tony and Ziva. He passed them and went to Gibbs. "Gibbs."

"Tim." They shook hands, "How are you?"

"Fine," Tim lied. "I was just wondering why I was practically forced by Vance to come here."

"Benjamin Kennedy took your desk a while after you left. He's missing. There's an encryption code on his computer that Sam from Cybercrimes looked at. He said you're the only one he's ever seen decrypt something like it in such a short amount of time."

"Well, I'm sure there's someone else in all of the DC area that can decrypt encryption codes."

"I'm sure too, but I don't have time to waste to find those people." Gibbs could hear the anger and annoyed tone in Tim's voice. "…Let's go to the conference room, Tim."

Tim followed as Gibbs led the way to the conference room. Tony and Ziva watched as he walked off.

"He is still very… duff."

"_Buff_, Ziva. He's _buff_."

"Yes. Something is wrong though."

"Ya think? He hasn't talked to any of us in five months and all of a sudden he's back… I have a feeling this isn't going to go over very well."

"Don't be such a drowner, Tony."

Tony sighed. "_Downer_, Ziva, _downer_."

* * *

><p>"Tim, I don't know anything about computers so I won't go into what's going on with Ben's computer, but we need you to undo whatever was done on that thing."<p>

Tim rubbed his forehead as he turned away from Gibbs and walked to the other side of the table. "I really don't understand why you needed me here, Gibbs. There's an entire unit here to do the exact same thing you brought me here to do."

"We need you here because you're faster than any of them, McGee. Sam said that you're the best. You're even better than some guy he knows that works at the Pentagon- and he's the best at the Pentagon. If you had been kidnapped, wouldn't you want the best out there lookin' for you?"

"Are you sure he's even been kidnapped?"

"Yes, we're sure."

"Do you have any evidence of a kidnapping?"

"Well, do you see him anywhere around here? He hasn't shown up, hasn't called in sick, he's not at his place. He's missing, McGee."

Tim shook his head. "I don't…"

Gibbs waited for Tim to finish, but Tim didn't go on. "You don't _what_, McGee?"

Tim looked up at him, "Huh?"

Gibbs just stared at Tim for a moment. "You've been drinking," He said. It wasn't a question.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You've been sucking on mints to try and cover up the smell of alcohol, you don't like to be in close range with anyone- which is why you moved to the other side of the table, you keep trying to avoid eye contact, and you can't even think straight. You didn't just have one or two drinks… you're practically drunk."

Tim's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't know what you're talking about, Gibbs! I'm not drunk!"

"Maybe not to the point of words being slurred and not being able to walk straight, but you've definitely got quite a bit of alcohol in ya."

"I can't believe this!" Tim exclaimed. "You know, I didn't come all this way to get scolded. I didn't _have_ to come!"

"You obviously felt you did or you wouldn't be here."

Tim took a deep breath. He felt like storming over to Gibbs and punching him, but he held himself back. "Listen, it took a lot for me to come here. It's not something I wanted to do, but I did it. Now, I will work on the encryption on Ben's computer and I will decrypt it for you, but I will only do it so you can find him. _You_ are not my boss. _You_ don't own me anymore. _I_ don't go by your rules. I do my thing and I get out."

Without letting Gibbs get in another word, Tim stormed out. Gibbs thought about stopping him. He could have slammed him back against the wall and said a few choice words that could have put the old Tim back in his place… but this Tim was _not_ like the old Tim.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you guys for all the reviews! Let me know what you think of this chapter :)<strong>


	5. Help

Tim angrily walked back to the bullpen. In his mind, he was telling Gibbs off even more than he already had.

As he walked passed Ziva and Tony, who were both at their desks, the back elevator dinged and opened.

Chains from boots could be heard clinging as Abby ran out of the elevator and headed right for Tim.

"Timmy!" She screamed so loudly that all the other agents in earshot turned in her direction. With her arms out she practically jumped on Tim, not noticing the glare on his face prior to doing so.

He had to take a step back to regain his balance. "Whoa," He said as she held onto him tightly.

He had forgotten what her hugs were like. It was at that moment that he realized how much he missed them. His face lightened slightly as he returned her hug.

"I missed you so much, Timmy!" Abby began. "It's so good to see you!.. I mean, it's not good that Ben's missing, but it's still really good to see you!" She pulled back from the hug so she could look at him. "How are you? What have you been up to? Why haven't you been answering my calls? Have you not gotten my messages? Do you have a different number? Did you move?" She looked around, sniffing the air, "Why do I smell alcohol?"

At that moment, she looked back at Gibbs, who was leaning against the half wall by Tony's desk. He shook his head, telling her to stop with the questions.

Abby smiled. "You know what? It doesn't matter." She put her arms around him and gave him another big hug. "All that matters is you're here."

Tim smiled slightly. Yup, he definitely missed her. "Good to see you too, Abbs… How did you know I was here?"

Abby pulled back from the hug once more. "I… can not reveal my sources."

"Tony?"

Abby nodded. "And Ziva… at the same time."

"Thanks, Abby," Tony said from behind her.

"Sorry," She replied. "I tried really, really hard."

Tim sighed. "Well, I better get to work. Ben would probably want me to work fast."

"Okay. I need to get back to the lab anyway, but I want to see you while you're here. We have to go out to dinner or something."

_'No, no, no, no,'_ Tim repeated to himself, knowing he couldn't resist her.

He nodded. "Sure."

Abby cheerfully went back to the elevator and headed for her lab.

Tim sat down at what used to be his desk.

The others watched as he looked around at the desk for a moment. They could tell that memories were flooding into his mind.

Gibbs went back to his own desk and sat down. "DiNozzo."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Go downstairs and get the security tapes from last night. Look through them to find-"

"Anyone out of place. On it, Boss." Tony got up and left, leaving Gibbs, Ziva and Tim in the bullpen.

Tim finished looking over his old desk and started his work on Ben's computer.

"Gibbs, I was going to go get a coffee. Would you like one?"

"Yeah, Ziva. Thanks."

Ziva nodded once in response. "Tim, would you like one as well?"

"No, thank you, Ziva."

Ziva grabbed her keys and began to head out. Gibbs got up and followed her to the elevator. "Get him a coffee anyway. Black."

Ziva's eyebrows furrowed. "Can I ask why?"

"Let's just say he killed a few brain cells on his flight here."

Ziva nodded in understanding. "I will get him some coffee."

The elevator doors opened and Ziva left, then Gibbs walked back to his desk.

* * *

><p>The coffee stand that the team usually went to was closed for the week. The man who ran it was currently on vacation with his family, so Ziva got into her car and headed to the nearest cafe.<p>

When she got out of her car she was approached by a woman. "Excuse me, Ma'am."

Ziva hid her disgust with being called "Ma'am" as the woman looked worried. "Yes?"

"I- I'm sorry to bother you, but I saw your badge on your belt and… well…"

"It is alright. Is something wrong?"

"Well, you see, my dog just ran down that alley back there and I'm afraid to go back and get her by myself. I walk along this sidewalk a lot and I saw a few guys down there before… I'm just a little scared I guess."

"I will accompany you."

The woman smiled. "Thank you so much."

"What is your name?" Ziva asked as they headed towards the alley.

"My name? Debby."

"And your dog's name?"

"Oh, it's Mickey, but he never comes to it. He's not the smartest dog out there."

They turned down the alley, with Ziva walking slightly ahead of Debby.

"I am afraid I do not see him anywhere," Ziva said as they got about three quarters of the way down the alley.

Debby sighed. "Oh, I wonder where he could be!"

"I am sorry," Ziva said, "I would like to help more, but I must get back to work."

Just as Ziva was turning back towards Debby, she felt a pinch in her arm. She looked over to see Debby injecting her with something.

She went to fight back, but not even she could stay up against the drugs effects on her.

Ziva fell to the ground and Debby walked up to her, standing over her. "Don't worry about it," She said with an evil smile on her face. "You helped plenty."

* * *

><p><strong>So, I was going to have it to where I didn't mention it was Debby, but I thought that anyone with eyes would be able to tell it was a trap from the beginning. Plus, I found it slightly more creepy with us knowing exactly who she was and Ziva not knowing. Even I wanted to scream "NO!" to Ziva haha<strong>

**Thanks for all the reviews! They fueled me to write this chapter in just a little over an hour :)**


	6. Things Change

Ziva squeezed her eyes shut, there was a horrible nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her mind was foggy. The last thing she remembered was that she was going to get coffee for everyone.

She reached up and rubbed her eyes, then she opened them and saw… nothing. It was pitch black.

She felt her eyes to make sure they were open, and when she knew that they were, she began to panic. "Hello! Who is there? What is wrong with me?" She began questioning loudly.

"Ziva? Is that you?"

She went silent. She was about to stand from wherever she was lying down, but she froze at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Ben?"

"Oh my God! She got you too!"

Ziva looked around, although she couldn't see a thing, searching for his voice. "What are you talking about?"

"The lady. Was she the one that injected you with something?"

Ziva began having memories of a woman coming up to her outside of the coffee shop. "She… She said her dog was missing."

"She just took me down," Ben replied. "I fell so fast I couldn't even get in one punch."

"Nor could I… I remember her taking me down an alley. That is when she injected me with something… Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"What is wrong with my eyes?"

"Nothing. I thought I was blind when I first woke up, but when she opened the door I realized it was just dark in here."

"She opened the door?"

"Twice. Once to bring me food- which was very difficult to find, by the way... I think I have mashed potatoes on my pants-"

"Back to the point, Ben!"

"Oh, right. The other time was to bring you in and get the tray."

"Why did you not try to escape?"

"Well, the first time I had no idea where the door was, and the second time- when she brought you in- the door hit me in the head and I fell backwards… It's really hard to walk around in the dark."

Ziva sighed. "We need to be ready to fight the next time she opens that door."

"Ziva, can you tell me which direction you're even facing right now?"

"No, I can not."

"I passed out from being slammed with the door when you were brought in. When I woke up I crawled until I hit a wall. I don't even know where _I_ am in this place. How are we supposed to be ready?"

"We get up and we search for the door!"

"You don't think I tried that already? I tried that the first time I woke up here. I could never find anything."

Ziva slowly sat up, then stood, holding her arms out straight so she wouldn't suddenly hit anything. "Then I will search this time. Maybe I will find something that you did not."

Ben let out a deep breath. "Go for it."

* * *

><p>"Boss, I've got nothing. It just goes to voicemail."<p>

Gibbs sighed. "She should've been back by now."

"There might've been a long line at the coffee shop," Tony suggested.

Gibbs shook his head. "No. She should be here." He stood up, grabbed his gear and his keys, then headed out of the bullpen. "I'm going to the coffee shop."

"Need me to go with you, Boss?"

"No," Gibbs replied. "Keep working on the security videos." He reached the elevator and pressed the button. "And keep callin' Ziva!"

Tony nodded. "Yes, Boss."

Tim, who had been listening the entire time, quickly returned his attention back to Ben's computer.

Tony called Ziva's cell phone again then, once it went to voicemail again, Tony hung up and looked over at Tim.

He hesitated before getting up and walking over to him.

After a moment, Tim looked up at him. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Don't pretend that you didn't hear us talkin', McGoo. Whether you were being McSnoopy or not, you would have heard either way."

Tim sighed. "I'm sure she's fine, Tony."

Tony shook his head. "I don't know, McPositive. Ben's already missing, now Ziva is too. We both know coincidences don't exist."

"I don't know that."

"After eight years of workin' here with Gibbs, you don't know that?" Tony laughed, "Yeah, right."

"Gibbs isn't always right, Tony. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Tony just stared at Tim for a moment. He was slightly in shock by how Tim was acting. This was not the Tim he knew. He didn't like this Tim. "You're not even the same, McDifferent. Not at all."

"Things change, Tony."

"I know _"things change"_, Tim. I just never thought you would."

With that said, Tony walked back to his desk and began going over the security tapes.

* * *

><p>"Next is Tim."<p>

"Are you kidding me, Debby? You've only taken two!"

"It's enough to get him here!"

"No, it's not! He's still got Agents Gibbs _and_ DiNozzo to provide backup for him! They'd never let him come alone! At this rate they wouldn't even let him come!"

"If you want me to take more, it's going to cost you more."

"How much?"

"A million each."

"Fine. Just get the job done."

* * *

><p><strong>I can't believe I finished this chapter!.. Heck, I can't believe I even got it started... College started yesterday, and today I've got two classes, so things are gonna get crazy! I am putting up on all of my stories that updates may be later than usual :( but I would never completely stop a story. I hate when people do that, so I refuse to. Once I get used to this whole college thing, hopefully, things will get a little better. Right now I'm just a bundle of nerves.<strong>

**Well, thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	7. Worry

Before Gibbs even parked he saw Ziva's car parallel parked right by the coffee shop. He quickly parked in the spot behind her and got out of his car.

He made his way to her car and opened it with ease. He found it odd that it was unlocked, but didn't spend too much time dwelling on it.

After visually checking the car and seeing nothing wrong with it, he made his way into the coffee shop.

Walking past the line of people, he went up to the front. A few people gave him looks and said some rather rude words to him, but he ignored them and got out his badge.

"Sir, you're going to have to get in the back of-" The young man behind the counter stopped when he saw Gibbs' badge.

"NCIS. I have a question."

"Yes, Sir."

"That car," Gibbs began, pointing back to it, "Did you see anyone come out of it and come into here?"

He shook his head. "No, Sir, but it has been pretty busy. What did this person look like?"

"Israeli, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, accent, white shirt and olive green pants."

"No, I haven't seen anyone like that. Let me ask the others."

The boy went over to the two other workers and asked them. Gibbs watched as they shook their heads.

"I'm sorry. They haven't," He said as he came back over to Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded. "Care if I ask around?" He asked, even though he would have done it whether the answer was yes or no.

"Go ahead."

Gibbs turned around, looking out at the small crowd of people sitting and standing around. He lifted up his badge to show to everyone. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs from NCIS!" He announced, "I need to know if any of you have seen the woman who came out of that black car, right out front!"

Everyone inside looked back at the car, then either continued with their own conversations or looked back at Gibbs and shook their heads… except for one little, blond pigtailed girl sitting at a small table with her mom. She raised her little arm up, asking for permission to speak.

Gibbs noticed and walked over to her. "What's your name?" He asked, bending down beside her.

"Taylor."

"Did you see something, Taylor?"

She nodded. "The lady who came out of the car. She had dark hair and dark skin."

"That's her. Did you see where she went?"

Taylor nodded again. "She got out of the car and another woman came up to her. They talked, then," She pointed down the sidewalk, "they started walking that way."

"Did either of them look mad or scared?"

"No. The blond lady came up to the dark haired lady and she told her something. She pointed down the road and then they walked down there together."

"You have a very good memory, Taylor. How old are you?"

"Four. But I'll be five soon."

Gibbs turned to her mom. He knew he should have spoken to her first, but he didn't want to waste any time. "Do you mind coming down to NCIS? She might be able to provide information for our sketch artist to give us a description."

"What's going on?" She asked curiously. "Did the lady do something?"

"The blond one did. She most likely kidnapped two NCIS agents."

"Oh my God. Of course I'll take her."

"Do you know where the building is?"

She nodded, "Yes, I do. I'll take her right away."

"Okay. I'll call one of my agents… my _agent_… and have him waiting in the lobby for you."

"Yes, Sir."

The woman and her daughter left, then Gibbs called Tony to have him meet them in the lobby. After that, Gibbs made his way down the sidewalk, where Taylor had pointed out, looking for any clues.

He continued until he reached the alley. He knew that if someone wanted to take Ziva, or anyone really, in public, this would be the perfect spot to do so. There wasn't a lot of people, if there was a van or SUV parked on the side of the road then you couldn't see down there, and there was no other way out.

With that in mind, he walked down the alley, keeping his eyes to the ground. Ziva was a fighter, so if anyone was going to take her they'd have to work for it… or drug her. He looked for signs of blood… or signs of anything really.

He walked all the way down the alley and was making his way back up when he spotted something. A cap for the needle of a syringe.

He pulled a hanky out of his jacket pocket and picked it up. Finding nothing else, he headed back to NCIS.

* * *

><p>Tony was in a separate area of NCIS, with Taylor and her mother, when Gibbs arrived. He walked into the bullpen, sat at his desk, opened his desk drawer, and pulled out an evidence bag- never even taking a glance at Tim.<p>

Tim _would_ glance at Gibbs, however, trying to be as discreet as possible. He watched as Gibbs put the cap into the bag, then got out a pen and started writing on the bag.

He didn't want to ask questions, but curiosity- and worry for his former co-worker- took over. "Did you find her?" Tim asked, trying to sound as though he didn't really care.

"Yeah, she's invisible now."

Tim sighed. "I was just asking."

Gibbs got up and began to leave. "She was taken," He said. "If Tony comes back, tell him I've gone down to Abby."

_"She was taken."_ That's all Tim got to know. No details. Nothing about what the heck was going on. Just _"She was taken."_ Tim wondered if Gibbs forgot that he and Ziva used to be friends… It seemed as though none of them were his friends anymore. Well, maybe Abby… but she was friendly to everyone, so he couldn't be sure.

Not letting himself continue with these thoughts, Tim got back to work.

* * *

><p>Gibbs entered the lab, his mind filled with so many different thoughts that it was hard to keep them all straight. He was concerned for Ziva, concerned for Ben, mad at Tim, hoping the little girl could make a description, and hoping Abby wouldn't freak out too much when she found out Ziva was missing too.<p>

"Hey, Gibbs!" Abby said as she turned around and spotted him. She picked up her stereo remote and turned the music down. "What do you got for me?"

Gibbs handed her the bagged cap. "I found this at an alley where-"

"An alley?" Abby interrupted, her eyebrows furrowed. "I thought Ben was taken at his house. Does this have to do with something else? You wouldn't work on another case when a part of the team is missing would you? I mean-"

She stopped as Gibbs put his hands on her shoulders.

"What is it, Gibbs? What's wrong?"

"Ziva's missing, Abby."

"What!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening. "No she's not! She was just here! I saw her earlier today."

"She went to go get coffee, and a woman came up to her and they walked off together. She hasn't been seen since."

"Oh my God," Abby said, her eyes looking down at the floor. "Why is this happening?" She looked back up at Gibbs, "What's going on, Gibbs?"

Gibbs shook his head. "I don't know, Abbs. But we need to find them, _soon_."

Abby nodded. "I'll start running tests on the cap."

Gibbs gave Abby a kiss on the forehead, then turned and began to leave.

"Gibbs!" She called out to him.

He turned back. "Yeah, Abbs?"

"Was Tim drunk earlier?"

Gibbs paused before answering. "He had been drinking."

Abby let out a deep, sad breath. "I knew it… I'm worried about him, too, Gibbs."

Gibbs nodded, then turned and headed for the elevator. "So am I."

* * *

><p><strong>This has been one of my favorite stories to write. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because I have a clear direction on how I want this all to go.<strong>

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. No action, but a lot happened. Let me know what you think!**


	8. Three

It was nearing nine o'clock when Abby came into the bullpen. "Gibbs!"

"What is it, Abby?" He asked, quickly standing up.

"I finished the tests on the cap you found. There were no fingerprints but I did find trace amounts of Promethazine."

"Which is?"

"Well, it's commonly used to relieve symptoms of allergies-"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Great. So, we got nothing."

"I wasn't finished. It's also used as a sedative. It's normally not in injection form but you can get it that way. Used in high doses, if this drug was used on Ziva and Ben, it could have knocked them out quick."

Gibbs let out a deep breath. He glanced over at Tony, who had stopped watching the security cameras to listen in, "Have you found anything yet?"

Tony cleared his throat, "Um, no, Boss. No one out of place yet. I'm about to get started on the tapes of the bullpen area."

"Did it ever occur to you that they encrypted the computer from a separate location?" Tim asked.

"Did they?" Gibbs questioned.

"They did it in this building, but I can't say for sure that it was this computer."

"So, I may need to look at more tapes than the front desk and the bullpen?"

"A lot more."

Tony let out a deep breath, then took out one video and put the next in.

"Abby, I have an officer waiting downstairs for you. He'll follow you home, make sure your apartment is clear, then stand outside your apartment door all night and follow you back to work tomorrow."

"Whoa," Abby replied, slightly shocked that Gibbs got all that out without taking a breath. "That's sweet of you, Gibbs, but I'm not going home. I need to be here."

"We have nothing for you to do here, Abby. If we get any forensic evidence then I'll call you and you can come right back."

"But-"

"No, buts."

Abby sighed. "Fine."

Gibbs looked past Abby and to Tim. "You go too, Tim."

Tim looked up from the computer. "What?"

"You've been staring at that thing for hours. Take a break, come back tomorrow morning. There's an officer waiting for you too."

"I'll go," Tim said, standing up, "but I don't want protection."

"Come on, McGee, don't be stupid!"

"I'm not being stupid. Whoever's doing this clearly wants to mess with the team. I am not part of that team anymore. I'll be fine."

Gibbs shook his head. He didn't have time to deal with Tim's stupidity right now. "Fine. Go. I'll call down and tell both officers to go with Abby."

Tim nodded and grabbed his coat. He didn't want to be a complete jerk, so he turned to Abby instead of just leaving. "Wanna walk out with me?"

Abby took in a deep breath. She hadn't expected that… she wanted that, but she hadn't expected it. "Sure. I, uh, I need to get my keys from my lab first."

"I'll meet you in the lobby."

Abby nodded. "Okay."

A couple of minutes later, Abby exited the elevator and walked over to Tim, who was standing across from the two officers.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yup."

Tim opened the door and let Abby out first, then exited behind her. Not far behind them were the officers.

"So, how have you been?" Abby asked, fully realizing how unoriginal the question seemed.

"Good," He lied. "After leaving NCIS I stayed with my parents for about a month, but I just couldn't handle it any longer than that. I moved across the state, got a job, an apartment… and that's basically it."

"Where do you work?"

"It's a private business called Christie's Honor. There's about twenty men and women who pretend to be teenagers online to catch predators and find child porn sites. Once they have a meeting location, they call the police and the police take over."

Abby nodded. "Nice. You got the whole Dateline thing going on."

Tim laughed. "Yeah… I fix the computers when they stop working. Lots of rebooting. It's so…. exciting."

Abby heard the sarcasm in Tim's voice. It was hard to miss. "It can't be too bad."

"Oh, it is. But, it's a job… What have you been up to?"

Abby shrugged. "Same as always. Work, work, work and the occasional concert or bowling excursion."

Tim shook his head. "This is crazy. I never thought I'd be back here. It all happened so fast too. One second I was getting ready for work and the next I'm on a jet headed for DC."

"I guess you can never truly leave the NCIS family."

Tim nodded and half smiled. "Yeah, I guess."

Abby had been wanting to ask why Tim stopped calling, or answering the team's calls… she wasn't sure if she _should_ ask, but she needed to know. So, she took a deep breath and began. "Ti-"

"Well, here's my car," Tim said, looking at the rental car that had been dropped off for him earlier. "I'll, uh, I'll see you tomorrow, Abbs."

She cleared her throat. "Right, okay. See ya, Timmy."

Tim unlocked the car. "Stay safe," He said before getting in.

"I will."

* * *

><p>She had been waiting for a while now. She had expected them to come out sooner. It didn't matter; she had a job to do and she didn't give up.<p>

She watched as they talked, officers patiently waiting behind and beside them. She had to smile at the fact that they thought they were safe with the protection detail.

She continued watching as they parted ways and headed to separate cars. She knew the first thing the officers would be doing was checking the house when they got there, but they should have been smart enough to check the car too. Thankfully, for her, they weren't.

She crouched down in the back seat of their car and waited for her next victim to get in. Once they were inside, with the door locked, she swiftly jabbed the needle into their neck. "And that makes three."

* * *

><p><strong>Two things:<strong>

** #1: I spent forever looking up different medicines that are injected and cause sedation. I am surprised I was not visited by several different agencies questioning me as to why I was looking it up. If anything is wrong, blame it on google, not me. :)**

** #2: I have to work on 5 different essays at the moment plus study for a Western Civ class (that's more boring than watching paint dry) so updates may be even rarer than they already are. I'm sorry about that, but there's not really anything I can do :(**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	9. Million Dollar Question

"What do you mean he never showed up?" Asked an angry Gibbs.

"I'm at his apartment now. I left ahead of him and took his house key with me. I told him I'd check out his place and be waiting in the parking lot when he arrived… He never arrived. I'm still sitting in the parking lot."

Gibbs let out a deep, frustrated breath. "Why didn't you follow behind him?"

"I told you, sir, so I could check out his place before he arrived."

"And what if someone snuck in _after_ you checked his place but before he got home? Then what?"

"Sir, I understand I screwed up. I get that. But he never made it home. I think we need to deal with that instead of what might have happened."

"You listen to me. I put you on protection detail because I heard you were one of the best. Now, I don't know where your head is at tonight, but it is definitely not screwed on right! Let me tell you something, if I find him and he's already dead, I am holding you personally responsible for his death. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir."

"And if he is at all injured, you will not be able to get a job working as a security guard for the midnight shift at McDonald's! Think about your massive screw up tonight at home. You're not needed anymore."

"Yes, sir."

Gibbs hung up and slammed his phone down on his desk. "Tony, grab your gear. We're going down to the parking garage."

* * *

><p>"Hey! Hey, wake up!"<p>

"Mmm… What… Where am I?"

"Jimmy, it is us. Ziva and Ben."

"Ziva and… Ben?.. Ziva and Ben! You guys are missing!"

"Yes," Ziva replied. "And now you are as well."

Jimmy sat up a little bit. "Where are we?"

"Don't know," Ben answered.

"But we will get out soon," Ziva reassured him.

Ben rolled his eyes, but Ziva couldn't see that… which was probably good for him. "We were supposed to get out when she was bringing him in."

"I thought I was right by the door!"

"You were about as far away from the door as you could get."

"Yes, I know that now."

"Why didn't you go for her while she was bringing me in?" Jimmy asked. "...Whoever _"she"_ is."

"I would have," Ziva replied, "but it happened too fast. My eyes did not even have time to fully adjust to the light from outside of the room."

"Jimmy, do you have any idea what's going on?" Ben asked. "Have you heard anything from the team?"

"I know someone installed an encryption code onto your computer. Tim's trying to decrypt it, but Gibbs sent him to his motel for the night to get some rest. Tony and Gibbs are still working, but everyone else was sent home. We're all under protection detail."

"It seems they have done a very good job," Ziva said sarcastically.

Jimmy shook his head… just another movement no one could see. "No, he couldn't help it."

"What do you mean?"

"I… I remember talking to Dr. Mallard as we were heading to our cars. We each had one officer to follow us home. I remember getting into my car to leave and something poking my neck… then it all went black. Whoever it was must have been hiding in my car."

"The officer _should_ have checked your car first," Ziva pointed out.

"Maybe, but he didn't, and now I'm here with you guys… We're not gonna die are we?"

Ben sighed. "The million dollar question."

* * *

><p>Tim laid back in his motel bed. It wasn't the best place to be… it was actually a horrible place to be. The walls were dirty, the floor was dirty, he was pretty sure the sheets on the bed hadn't ever been washed, even the tub was dirty… but they did have a mini-bar. That was all Tim seemed to care about right now. It had been a long, frustrating day and he desperately needed to forget about it for a while.<p>

Before opening up the mini-bar and getting himself a drink, Tim set his alarm clock for 5:30am. No matter how much he wished he didn't, he still had a job to do the next day. He knew that if he started drinking before setting the alarm then he would never set the alarm, and he didn't want Gibbs banging on his motel room door tomorrow morning.

With the alarm now set, Tim opened the mini-bar and got a drink. He went back to his bed and sat down with his back leaning against the headboard.

He began thinking about his day, then realized that that was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

Tim then remembered that he still hadn't called into work to tell them he wouldn't be coming in for a few days. He looked over at the clock and saw it was almost ten thirty. "I'll call tomorrow then," He said before taking a sip of his drink.

* * *

><p>Two hours and five entire mini-bottles of hard liquor later, Tim picked up the hotel phone and called his boss' work phone.<p>

After about seven rings, the machine picked up.

Tim waited for the beep, then began. "This is Tim-o-thy McGeeee. I will not be able to come into work yesterday as I am not there. I am in Washington District of Colombia. My old work needed me. They forced me to come here! Cause I'm smart! I. Am. Smart." Tim burped and looked over to his right, where Burt sat beside him. "There's a hippo on my bed! You don't have a hippo, but I do. You don't have a hippo because you don't have an Abby. If you had an Abby then you'd have a hippo! I'm not coming to work today either because I am in Washington District of Colombia still. I am decrypting encrypted things. Shhhh! I don't know when I'll be back… I'm gonna hang up now… Feliz Navidad! Goodbye!.. I think I'm drunk."

Tim hung up the phone and promptly slumped down in bed, passing out.

* * *

><p>Gibbs looked at his watch. It was ten o'clock in the morning. He looked over at the empty desk that Tim was supposed to be sitting in.<p>

"Shouldn't we make sure he's okay, Boss?" Tony asked tiredly. Neither of them had had any sleep.

"Yes."

"Gear up, then?"

"No."

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed, stopping in front of his desk. She had been pacing back and forth in the bullpen. "What are you talking about! Of course you gear up! What if he was taken?"

"He wasn't taken, Abby."

"How do you know?"

"Because, Jimmy was taken last night."

"That doesn't mean they didn't take Tim."

"There's no "they", Abby. It's one woman."

"How do you know?"

"My gut told me."

Abby put her hands on her hips. "Well, something is wrong. He wouldn't just not show up."

"Not the old Tim. Not the _sober_ Tim."

Abby took in a deep breath. "No. No, he wouldn't get drunk. Not knowing how important this is. Gibbs, you can't just not check on him."

Gibbs stood up and grabbed his keys. "I know, Abby. I'm going. Tony, stay here and keep working."

"Yes, Boss."

Gibbs headed for the elevator. With each step he became more and more angry with Tim. He knew Tim hadn't been taken, and he knew that this "new" Tim seemed to like alcoholic beverages a little too much… but if he went into Tim's motel room and found him passed out from being drunk… he wasn't sure what he might do to him.

* * *

><p><strong>It felt so good to write this chapter! It has been too long! I've missed this, and all of my other stories. I have no college work for this weekend so I finally get to update some stories :) YAY!<strong>

**Hope you guys liked this... even though even I wanted to tear into Tim this time around :)**


	10. Water

Gibbs knew the motel Tim was staying at and it took him ten minutes to get there, even though it should have taken twenty.

He quickly got out of his car, slammed the door shut, and walked straight to the front desk.

"How can I help you?" An overweight, unhappy woman asked from behind the desk.

"Timothy McGee. What room's he in?"

"I'm sorry, I can't give out that in-"

"Should I show you my badge or should I just go straight for the gun? I've got three people missing and I'm not going to waste time with you, so tell me his room number and get me a key for it, now!"

The woman swallowed hard, her mouth hanging slightly open. She didn't say a word, but she checked through her papers until she found Tim's room number, got a key, and handed it to Gibbs. "Room 128."

Gibbs grabbed the key and left out of the lobby area. He walked to room 128 and, without giving Tim any warning, unlocked the door and opened it.

Gibbs didn't think he could get any angrier… then he saw Tim passed out, surrounded by mini liquor bottles, laying on top of a stuffed hippo all while his alarm clock blared.

Gibbs slammed the door behind him, walked over to the alarm clock and shut it off. He then went into the bathroom, grabbed the garbage can from under the sink, turned the cold water on in the bathtub, filled the garbage can and, after turning the water off, took it back out to the bedroom.

He stood by where Tim's head laid, stared at him for a moment, then dumped the water on his head.

Tim jumped up. "Oh my God!" He yelled, along with some expletives. It took him a moment to realize what was going on. He looked over at Gibbs as he ran his fingers through his hair. "What was that for? What are you doing here?"

"It's past 10am, Tim. You're supposed to be working right now."

"What? No it's-" Tim stopped as he looked over at the clock. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. Tim, what's the matter with you? Three of our people are missing and you don't give a crap about them!"

"They're _your_ people, they're _Tony's_ people, they're not _my_ people!"

"I get you not having full concern for Ben, you don't know him. But Ziva and Jimmy? You're not that far gone, Tim!"

"I didn't have to come here!" Tim yelled, knowing full and well that he really had no other choice. "I said I'd help and I will. Now get out and let me get dressed! I'll be at work in a few minutes."

"No."

"What?"

"You still have alcohol in your system. You're not coming to work drunk."

"I'm not drunk," He said, his words slightly slurring… _'Perfect timing,'_ He thought sarcastically.

"I'm going to leave. I'm going back to work and I'm going to try and find the three members of my team that are missing. You are going to stay here and either sober up and come into work, or continue drinking all this crap and live the rest of your life as a drunk loser. Your choice, Tim. If you're not at work by four o'clock, I'll find someone else to do your job for you."

Tim felt the anger in him rising as Gibbs walked past him to leave out the door.

"You have no idea what I went through, Gibbs!" He yelled.

Gibbs turned back to him, "Yes I do, Tim! I read the reports, I know exactly what you went through while you were in prison. You went through hell, I get that, but this is your second chance and you're screwing it up! I'm not gonna watch you do that! Straighten up and use your second chance for good or leave and don't bother ever coming back!"

Without letting Tim get in another word, Gibbs left.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, I know, but I haven't updated this story in a long time so I figure it's better than nothing.<strong>

**I could have added another scene to it, but I really wanted this to just be about Tim and Gibbs. I hope you guys enjoyed.**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Sorry for the long wait :(**


	11. Proud Mary

Twelve o'clock turned into one o'clock, and one o'clock turned into two, then two turned into three. Gibbs sighed. There was no sign of Tim showing up. He had one hour left until he had reached his deadline and Gibbs had to find someone else to do his job.

There should have been a part of him that felt bad for Tim, considering what he went through, but he couldn't manage that feeling. All he felt was anger. When Tim had left NCIS after being cleared, he seemed okay. Not great, but okay. Things were looking up for him. He had a second chance and he seemed to understand that, but, somewhere along the way, that changed.

Gibbs hated that. He hated that he wasn't there for him, but how could he be? It's not like he could move just because a member of his team left. That would be ridiculous.

And it's not like he didn't _try_ to be there for him. He called and _attempted_ to text him, but he never heard anything back. Not after the first phone call. At first, he figured it was because the call had been slightly awkward. Gibbs was never much of a talker, something he'd admit to easily, so the conversation was basic and to the point. But, after time passed and Gibbs found out Tim wasn't taking any of his former co-workers and friends calls, he knew something was wrong.

But, how are you supposed to help someone when they won't even speak to you and they live no where near you? There was nothing Gibbs could do then, but he could now… and that chance he had been given was, most likely, over now. Tim had heard Gibbs' ultimatum and decided to get out and not return.

Okay… so maybe he felt a _little_ bad for Tim, but he was just mostly angry. Whether he was more angry at himself or at Tim was what remained unknown at the moment.

Gibbs sighed again. He couldn't waste another moment worrying about Tim when he had two agents and an assistant ME missing.

He glanced at his watch before getting up to head down to Abby. It was now just past three thirty. Tim had a little less than thirty minutes to make his decision, and Gibbs was hoping it would be the right one.

* * *

><p>"I. am. starving!" Ben said, becoming more irritated with each word.<p>

"Why did she stop bringing us food?" Ziva asked, even though she knew no one could answer. "We were being fed before." It wasn't like she hadn't been through worse before. She had been through much worse actually. The lack of food wasn't what bothered her, it was the fact that whoever this woman was had been bringing food regularly… until now.

They had never exactly been full since arriving wherever they were, but they had still been fed.

"Maybe she's dead," Jimmy chimed in. "Or maybe Gibbs and the team found her and now they're trying to find us."

"That is a possibility," Ziva agreed. "But I doubt it."

"Your gut?" Ben asked. He had heard a lot about people's guts talking for them since arriving on Gibbs' team.

"Yes," Ziva replied.

"It's odd. My gut never really speaks to me… except to tell me it's hungry… which it's doing very loudly at the moment."

"The gut feelings come with time," Ziva replied to Ben, looking in the direction which she guessed he was in. He had been moving around quite a bit, even though the room was pitch black and you couldn't see an inch in front of you. She usually could figure out where voices were coming from easily, but she just felt too exhausted right now to be sure. Even the fact that Ben's conversation was straying from anything that actually mattered didn't bother her as it usually did.

_"There's a rollin', rollin', rollin' near my liver,"_ Ben began to sing.

"What… are you doing?" Jimmy asked.

"Singing my own, hungry version of Proud Mary. Why? Does it bother you?" He asked, although he only half cared if it was at the moment.

"No, it's kinda entertaining. Got anymore to it?"

"Sure, why not." Ben returned to the song, making it up as he went along. _"Had a pork chop in the city, eatin' with my man every night and day. No, I never lost one good meal, I ate at least three times a day. Big meals kept on churning, but now all I feel is an empty hurtin'. There's a rollin', rollin', rollin' near my liver."_

He stopped when he heard Jimmy laughing, then Ziva began laughing as well. It wasn't long before he joined them.

Yes, it was one of the darkest moments of their lives, no pun intended, but they needed to laugh. It was a nice break from the dread and fear they all felt.

* * *

><p>After a less-than-informative visit to Abby- all she wanted to talk about was Tim- Gibbs returned to the bullpen… to find Tim sitting at his old desk, typing away at his old computer.<p>

Gibbs didn't say anything, knowing that if he did, it wouldn't end well. So, he just sat back down at his desk and returned to his own work.

Tim wasn't sure why he decided to come into work. If he was being honest, he planned on driving straight to the airport, but the car seemed to have a mind of its own and somehow he ended up here.

He was glad when he entered the bullpen to see it clear of both Tony and Gibbs. He knew Gibbs probably wouldn't say anything to him, but if he would have arrived with Tony at his desk, Tim would have definitely heard some "McTardy" jokes.

Besides having a monster of a headache, Tim's mind seemed to be pretty clear considering the fact he had gotten wasted last night. He was understanding the encryption codes he was having to break through easily is almost felt… _nice_ to be getting back into the swing of things.

...Then, his phone rang. Gibbs looked up for a moment, then returned to his work.

Tim fished it out of his pocket and answered quickly. "Hello?"

"McGee."

It was Tim's boss. "Mark? Oh God, Mark, I never called you-"

"Actually, you did."

"I did?" Tim replied, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes. Are you still in "Washington District of Columbia?""

The way that was said brought a memory back to his mind… A memory of a late night, drunken phone call to his boss. "Oh God," He said again, placing his elbow on his desk and his forehead in his hand.

"Yeah… Listen, Tim, I gave you a big chance when I let you come to work for me. All of my employees said don't do it, but I went with my instincts and said I was doing right. You proved me right, at first, but now… now I don't know what you're doing. Don't think I don't know when you come in to work hungover, and then you don't even care to call to say you won't be coming to work at all until you're so drunk you start talking about hippos in your bed!"

"I'm so sor-"

"Don't, Tim. I'm sorry, but, I'm going to have to give you the option of either quitting or being fired. Call me back by the end of the day." Mark hung up, and Tim did as well.

He wasn't sure what he should do. Quitting meant that he wouldn't get paid whatsoever, but the next job he got wouldn't call Mark and ask why he left… But getting fired meant he'd get paid for three more months, which is about how long it would take to find a job somewhere else.

Tim got up from his seat, ignoring the fact that Gibbs was staring at him, and left out of the bullpen, heading towards the break room.

He knew that by coming into work he had silently promised Gibbs to stay sober… but he had never wanted to drink himself into a coma as bad as he wanted to right now.

* * *

><p><strong>I started writing this thinking that it had only been a couple of weeks since my last update... then I looked and saw it had passed the one month mark! Sorry about that, although it's not as bad as my story Pentagram... I swear I'm still working on that story too, I just have a major case of writers block with it as the moment.<strong>

**Anyways, let me know what you think of this chapter! It's not that exciting, but I really wanted to write more of Ben. I like writing him a lot :) Thanks for sticking around and reading!**


	12. Root Beer

Gibbs waited a minute, then walked to the break room, figuring that's where he'd find Tim.

He was right. Tim was sitting at one of the tables, drinking a sip of root beer.

"Root beer? Really?"

Tim shrugged. "As close to actual beer as I'm gonna get right now."

Gibbs sighed, sitting down beside Tim. "What happened, McGee?"

Tim glanced at him, then returned his gaze to his drink. He contemplated not telling him for a moment, then decided against it. "My boss called… Apparently I left him a drunk message last night, after failing to tell him I was coming here in the first place. I'm either fired, or I have to quit."

Gibbs' eyebrows furrowed.

"This isn't the first mistake I've made since getting that job," Tim explained.

Gibbs nodded. "Ah." He stood back up. "Maybe this is all a wake-up call, McGee. Someone's telling you that you aren't meant to be there."

Tim laughed humorlessly, taking a sip of his drink. "Oh yeah? Well, where the heck am I supposed to be?"

Gibbs just shrugged. "That's up to you to figure out, Tim," He said before heading back out of the room.

Tim rubbed his eyes, took another sip of his drink, then got up and headed back to his desk.

* * *

><p>"Timmy came back then?" Abby asked Tony as he entered the lab.<p>

"Hello to you too."

"I heard he came back but I haven't been able to go up and see for myself."

"Yeah, he's here, but I haven't seen him yet. I've been runnin' around. You got anything?"

Abby put her hands on her hips. "What exactly am I supposed to _have_, Tony? There is no forensic evidence at the moment. None that I haven't already finished with anyway."

Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "So, _why_ haven't you had time to go see McGee yet?"

Abby bit the inside of her cheek. "Okay, I'm kinda scared to. It's just, he's so… different."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, I get it. I've been making myself busy to avoid the bullpen. Unfortunately that can't last much longer though."

"Tony, I don't like this. Any of it. Three of our people are missing, and Tim might as well be. I just… it's too much."

Tony saw the tears forming in Abby's eyes, so he pulled her into one of his brotherly hugs as he so often did with her. "I know, Abbs, I know. We'll find them though, okay? _All_ of them."

They continued hugging for a moment, before Abby pulled back with a sigh. "We better."

* * *

><p>Tim didn't speak for the next few hours. He simply worked on the encryption code until around nine, then excused himself to go make a phone call.<p>

He knew it was late, but he also knew his boss didn't leave work until ten, so he had time to tell him his decision.

Tim went down an empty hall, got out his phone, and went down the list of contacts until he got to his boss' name. He took a deep breath before hitting the 'call' button.

The phone rang four times before it was answered. _"Hello."_

"Mark."

_"McGee,"_ Mark replied with a low sigh. _"You've made your decision?"_

Another deep breath. "Yes, I have. I- I quit."

Tim couldn't be sure, but he felt as though Mark was nodding on the other end of the line. _"That's a good decision, Tim."_

Tim rubbed his eyes. "Yeah."

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Mark spoke. _"Tim, can I be completely honest with you?"_

Tim sighed. "Sure, why not?"

_"You were never meant to be here."_

Tim smiled and empty smile. "You're not the first person to tell me that today."

_"Well, whoever the other person was, they were right. You're smart, Tim. You're a lot smarter than this job, and you deserve something that makes you happy. Something that's _not_ alcohol."_

"Yeah," Was all Tim replied.

_"Okay,"_ Mark said, disappointment in his voice._ "I have to go, Tim. I'm sorry it came to this, but I hope you will find that something soon."_

"Yeah, thanks. Bye."

Tim hung up quickly, taking a few seconds to put himself together, then he headed back out to his old desk to resume his work.

* * *

><p>It was nearing eleven o'clock, with Tony, Tim, and Gibbs still working at their desks, when Gibbs' desk phone began to ring.<p>

He picked it up quickly.

"Agent Gibbs."

_"Agent Gibbs, this is Officer Thomas. Your card was found along with the I.D. and badge of an Agent Winderson. Do you know him?"_

"Yes, I do. What do you mean you found his badge and I.D.?"

_"The M.E. found it, actually. He was found about an hour ago in the Jameson apartment complex."_

Gibbs stood up quickly, grabbing his gear. Tony and Tim both looked up, and Tony began following suit.

"Don't touch anything else, I'm on my way with my team."

_"Yes, Sir."_

Gibbs listened as the officer called out to everyone around him. "Hey! Drop everything, NCIS is takin' over!" He put the phone back to his ear. _"Agent Gibbs?"_

"Yeah?"

_"I'll stay till you get here."_

Gibbs hung up and headed straight for the elevator.

"Boss!" Tony called out to him.

"Come on, Tony!" Gibbs called back. "She's got Abby!"

* * *

><p><strong>School sucks! It takes too much time from my writing. I used to be able to update multiple stories so much quicker! UGH!<strong>

**Well, I hope you guys liked the chapter :) Sorry about the long wait :(**


	13. Figure it Out

Tim jumped up from his desk and headed for the elevator. "I'm coming!" He called out.

"No, you're not," Gibbs replied, standing in front of the door so he couldn't enter.

"Boss-"

"No, Tim. Whatever's going on, that virus thing is the answer! You go back to your desk and work on it."

Tim stood there for a moment, knowing that Gibbs was right, but still wanting to go with them.

"Now, McGee!"

Tim quickly turned and headed back to his desk. He had to figure out what was on Ben's computer, and he had to do it before the entire team was gone.

* * *

><p>Abby groaned as she slowly gained consciousness.<p>

"Abby?" Ziva questioned.

"Wh- What happened?"

"You do not remember?"

"No. Where am I? Why can't I see?" She started to panic, "What's happening?"

"Abby, it's okay," Jimmy said. "You need to calm down."

"Jimmy is right," Ziva agreed.

"Jimmy? You're here too? Is Be-"

"Yes, I'm here," Ben replied before Abby could even finish her sentence.

"Oh my God! I was so scared you were all dead!"

"Well, we are not," Ziva responded. "But we might be soon if we do not figure this out."

"Then I vote we figure it out," Jimmy responded.

"Let us all speak of what we know so far," Ziva started. "Ben, you were taken first. You begin."

"Okay. I came home, was drugged, woke up here. Some woman did it. She's brought food and water a couple of times. And I tripped over a bucket once, so I figure that's to go the bathroom in... At least, that's what I did, so-"

"Okay, next," Jimmy interrupted.

"There was a code on your computer," Ziva said. "We had to call McGee here to break it."

"Tim's here?" Ben asked.

"Yes. He is the one who can most quickly break the encryption."

Ben thought for a moment, "I'm not supposed to believe in coincidence, right?"

Ziva nodded, forgetting for a moment that no one could see her. "That is what Gibbs says, yes."

"Well, then I think the whole plan was to get him here."

"What?" Abby exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because why else would someone put an encryption code on a computer that only Tim could decrypt," Ziva answered.

"Exactly," Ben said.

"Why did I not think of this before?" Ziva asked.

"Because Tim was our distraction," Abby said.

"Makes sense," Jimmy continued. "Him coming kinda threw everyone off. None of us were thinking clearly."

"Whoever is doing this doesn't want to kill us," Ben said, "They want to kill Tim."

* * *

><p>"Gibbs?"<p>

"What?"

"There's something not right about all of this."

"You think, Tony?"

Tony sighed, "No, I mean. Shouldn't we be hearing from whoever's taking the team? If they're angry about something we all did, they'd want us to know it, right?"

"What're you trying to say, DiNozzo?"

"That they don't have who they want yet, and they're gonna keep taking us one by one until they do."

"Yeah," Gibbs agreed, taking a breath, "I've been thinkin' that too."

"Really? Well, who do you think it could be? I mean, we've all angered a few people-"

"It's McGee."

"What?" Tony said, his voice getting quieter.

"They want McGee."

"Why are you just mentioning this now, Boss? Isn't that something we should all have known?"

"I didn't want Tim to figure it out."

"Why not? Gibbs, what are you not telling me?"

"Cause whether he believes it or not, he'd give himself over if it meant everyone else bein' safe. I didn't want to risk that. I want to get everyone home safe before he let's himself get killed."

"You really think he'd do that?"

Gibbs looked over at him. "You really think he wouldn't?"

Tony stared at Gibbs for a moment before looking away. Gibbs was right; they needed to end this before Tim did.

* * *

><p>Tim sat at his old desk. <em>'It's gonna take too long,'<em> he thought to himself. _'They'll be dead by the time I- No! No, Tim. Work on the computer, don't think of anything else.'_

He worked on it for what felt like hours, but got nowhere. Nothing was working. Things that he did the last time he dealt with something like this wasn't working now.

He became distracted when two agents walked by. Something one of them said caught his attention.

"Wait! What did you say?" He yelled to the agent.

They both turned around. "Who?" One of them asked.

"You. What did you just say?"

"Uh, he was overreacting to something his girlfriend did, so I said not to make a mountain out of a mole hill."

"Mountain out of a mole hill," Tim repeated.

"Yeah... Are you okay?"

"Mountain out of a mole hill!" Tim exclaimed, as though he had made some great revelation.

"I don't-"

"I'm making it harder than it needs to be. It looks complicated, but it's not. That's the problem," Tim continued, working on the computer. "That's why everything I was trying wasn't working. It doesn't need to be done. They're masking something easy as something hard and I was falling for it."

"Yeah... I'm gonna go," The agent said.

"Yeah, go, whatever. Thank you!"

"Mhm."

Tim worked on the code for a few more minutes, trying simple tasks instead of the complicated ones he had been trying before. Within ten minutes, he was in.

His heart immediately began to pound as he stared at the screen. An all too familiar face popped up, making Tim realize what this was all about.

Once he deleted everything from the computer, he got up and walked over to Ziva's desk. If anyone would have extra weapons, it would be her.

He found a gun underneath some folders in her bottom drawer. He hurried and put it into the back of his pants and lowered his shirt over it, then headed for the elevator and left.

* * *

><p><strong>Who's a butthead? ME! I'm so unbelievably sorry, guys! I don't even know if anyone thinks of this story anymore, but I can't <em>not<em> finish it. I went back and started over from Accused, read everything, and thought, "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED? WHY DID I LEAVE?!" I have no good excuse. It's just because obsessed with a different show (Glee) and started writing for that a lot. But now I'm going back and finishing all of the stories I stupidly left behind. This one is first! Once I finish it, I'll look over the next NCIS story I've never finished and get to work on that. I am so, so, so sorry! Forgive me, please!**


	14. No Sympathy

Tim took four deep breaths before getting out of his car. He hadn't been to this place in a long time, and he hadn't ever planned on going back. He had pushed his emotions away, but they seemed to be coming back to him as he sat in the prison's parking lot.

After getting out of his car, he once again shoved his emotions away, stood up straight, and headed into the building.

"How can I help you?" A busy officer asked from behind her desk, the top half covered by a thick layer of glass for her protection.

Tim got out his temporary badge and held it up to the glass, "NCIS, I need to talk to one of your prisoners."

The officer paused for just a second to glance at the badge, then got back to filing the hundreds of files on her desk, all while pressing the hold button to the many incoming phone calls on her telephone.

"Who are you here for?"

"Jeremy Harris," Tim replied, trying to hide the disgust overcoming him.

The officer's brows furrowed, "Jeremy? Jeremy Harris?" She clarified.

"Yes."

"He's the only one we've got here who's never had a visitor," She responded as she began looking all around the office, "Let me just grab his file and add it to the log-"

"Would you mind making it quick, this is urgent," Tim said.

She sighed, "This place is a mess. Sorry, the officer who worked here before just got fired and now I have to clean this place up for her. Just go on back, I have no idea where his file would even be. If you have a weapon, place it in a locker that has a key and take the key." She pressed a button that made a buzzing sound as the door beside her opened.

"Thanks," Tim responded as he walked further into the prison.

He put the gun he had stolen from Ziva's desk in the locker and took the key, just as the officer had said, and by the time he was finished, another officer was waiting for him.

"Here for Harris?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Alright. You want an interrogation room?"

"Yes, please."

The man pointed ahead, "It'll be the third door on your left. I'll go get him for you. Should I tell him who wants him?"

"No," Tim responded as he continued on to the interrogation room.

It wasn't until he got to the door that he remembered. This is where the detective interrogated him. The same exact room. This is the room where the man made up lies about him and told him stories about his life that never happened. Where he said that he wanted to shoot that undercover cop all those years ago. Where the detective told him lies about how he wanted to rape and kill his little sister. He spent ten hours in this room as a prisoner; hearing fake stories that the detective made him sit through and listen to in graphic detail.

Tim closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn't think of this right now. He had to block it out.

After a couple more deep breaths, he opened his eyes and took a seat opposite where he was sitting last time he was in the room.

He waited five minutes before the door opened. There stood Jeremy, an officer beside him guiding him into the room.

Jeremy wouldn't look up as he made his way to the chair. The officer helped him to sit down then left, leaving him handcuffed.

Tim sat there for a few seconds, unable to figure out how to begin. He wanted to beat the man, but he couldn't. He'd have to beat him with his words… If he could figure out how to speak!

"Look at me," Tim said, words finally escaping his mouth. His voice was clear; demanding even. It was the complete opposite from how he felt inside. But, when Jeremy quickly obeyed his command, Tim felt powerful.

"Oh… Oh my God! Wh- Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Very good act. Almost believable. I think you know why I'm here, Jeremy."

"N- No, I don't."

Tim nodded, "Of course you don't. You're not looking so good, Jer," Tim said, a chilling bite in his voice. "I'm guessing this place hasn't treated you too well. Can't say I'm sorry about that."

"What's it to you?" Jeremy replied, his voice tired.

"Where's my team?" Tim asked bluntly. "What are you doing to them? What's the point of all of this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't mess with me, Jeremy!" Tim responded, his voice rising.

Jeremy jumped slightly, surprised by Tim's voice. "I'm not! I don't know anything!"

"You put a virus on my computer at NCIS, you hired someone to kidnap my teammates, you brought me here on purpose and I will find out why and how you did it! You've ruined enough! Now, you can tell me everything about your plan, or I can have you moved to an even more _eventful_ prison."

"It wasn't me!" Jeremy yelled, his face showing complete fear.

"Then who!" Tim demanded. "Who would make it so when I broke the code, your file pops up with a picture of your stupid, smiling face on it!"

"I don't know! I- I don't get access to computers or the phone."

"Other prisoners do."

"I don't talk to them! I don't talk to anyone. You can ask anyone here and they'll tell you. They treat me like I'm scum!"

"You are."

"Well so are they."

"Doesn't matter. People who rape and murder kids are the lowest of the low here," Tim replied. His response wasn't just general knowledge anymore. He knew firsthand how the other prisoners were treating Jeremy.

"Listen, I don't know what you're saying I did, but I didn't."

"Then who? Who would get you involved?"

"I don't know."

"That's not a good enough answer."

Jeremy wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I don't- I… My uncle!"

"The one who pretty much knew I was innocent and decided to do nothing about it?"

"Yeah, Uncle Ryan! Maybe it was him."

"Where's your uncle now, Jeremy? And why would he want to do this?"

"In his mind, you ruined his life. He was old, but he didn't want to retire."

Tim's eyebrows furrowed. "Retire?"

Jeremy nodded. "He was forced into early retirement because of what happened. Got like five years of probation too."

"That's it?" Tim asked, not believing what he was hearing. That man deserved prison, not retirement and probation.

"Yeah," Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. "Idiot acted like it was the end of the world."

"How'd you know this if you haven't had contact with anyone."

"Story was on the news one day and the TV was on in the main area. They had an interview with him and everything. Talking about all the good he's done, and how this screwed everything up."

Tim was livid. How could that man think _his_ life was ruined, especially after all he'd done to Tim?

"I gotta go," Tim said quickly. He stood up and headed for the door.

"Wait!" Jeremy replied.

"What?" Tim asked, turning to him.

"Don't I get something? For helping? A few days in a cell alone?"

Tim laughed. "Jeremy, I have absolutely no sympathy for you. You will never get anything from me, you understand?"

"But-"

Tim left out before Jeremy could get another word in.

After Tim got back to his car, he sat for a minute, just piecing everything together.

He couldn't help but still be a little suspicious of Jeremy. He'd always be suspicious of him, but it didn't add up. Why would Jeremy have his team kidnapped, just for it to end with Tim going to the prison to confront him? That would be too easy. There would be no big finale, which is where this whole thing seemed headed.

Former Judge Fallon did seem like a viable option. Fallon was a vain man, who prided himself in his work. He took his job far too seriously, making sure everyone who came across his path never forgot who he was. He was a man who wanted- needed- to be feared. Now, he was just the joke who lost his job.

Tim quickly found Ryan Fallon's address on his phone. He looked at the clock before he started up the car. Gibbs and Tony would see he was gone soon enough. If he wanted to finish this, he had to be fast.

* * *

><p><strong>I had the busiest semester ever this past fall, but I'm going to try and make up for it now. I want to finish this story before I leave (I'm going to be working at Disney World for 4 months!)! So I'm going to be writing as much as possible. You guys have been so patient and kind. Thank you!<strong>


End file.
